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Using and Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar in Office 2007

The Quick Access Toolbar, new in Office 2007, is a great tool and easy to use once users know how to customize it. Today's tip - Using and customizing the Quick Access Toolbar.

Remember, if you have ideas for the Computing Tip of the Week, please send them to Pat Fellows.

Reminder - The new UW Colleges/UW Extension training web site is located at: http://www.uwex.uwc.edu/it/instruct-support/training.cfm . There users will find links to many useful Office 2007 training documents, videos, and web sites. We encourage you to check out this site first when you have questions about Office 2007.

The Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar is a row of buttons above the Ribbon, part of the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface. It already contains the following buttons by default: Save, Undo, and Repeat. Users can add new commands to the Quick Access Toolbar to meet their specific usage patterns in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and new messages in Outlook. The image below shows the toolbar, and points out both the default buttons, and the arrow used to access the Customize Quick Access Toolbar menu.

 

Customize the Quick Access Toolbar

First, take a look at the Customize Menu. There are several commonly used tasks. There are arrows pointing to a couple that I use regularly. Below those is a link to More Commands, Show Below the Ribbon, and Minimize the Ribbon. The Show Below the Ribbon option will move the Quick Access Toolbar to a position below the Ribbon. Minimize the Ribbon can be a dangerous option to click on. Already, we have had users do this and panic because the Ribbon is gone and they don't know how to get it back.

Let's take a look at how to add the "Quick Print" button to the Quick Access Toolbar. Follow these steps:

1. Click on the arrow used to access the Customize Quick Access Toolbar menu.
2. Click on Quick Print option.
3. Next look at the Quick Access Toolbar.
4. The button is now on the Toolbar.

Further Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar - "More Commands..."

Clicking on the More Commands option on the Customize Quick Access Toolbar menu will open the Options dialog box for the program in which the user is working, in this case, Word. The view will be the Customize view. Notice at the top of the dialog box it says "Customize the Quick Access Toolbar and keyboard shortcuts." The primary view is to customize the Quick Access Toolbar. Customizing the shortcuts requires clicking on the Customize button at the bottom of the dialog box.

There are hundreds of commands in Word to choose from when customizing the Quick Access Toolbar. In this example, we'll add two more buttons that I use regularly in Word, Draw Table and Font. Adding these buttons will save me having to go to a different tab, or location on the Ribbon to access these tools. Here are the steps"

1. Click on the arrow used to access the Customize Quick Access Toolbar menu.
2. Click on More Commands, this opens the Word Options dialog box
3. Click on Draw Table
4. Click on the Add button
5. Click on Font...
6. Click on the Add button
7. Click on the OK button

Notice there is a Reset button, to return the Quick Access Toolbar to its original settings.

Take a look at the Quick Access Toolbar now.

Clicking on the Draw Table button provides immediate access to the pencil cursor immediately to draw a table. No need to click on the Insert tab and select the Table arrow to find the Draw Table button.

Clicking on the Font button provides immediate access to the Font dialog box, allowing the user to make many different modifications to the font, immediately. No need to click on the Home tab and select the arrow in the Font group.

This is only the beginning of the many different methods of customizing the Quick Access Toolbar.

This link takes users to a Microsoft Office video; Place your favorite commands on the Quick Access Toolbar.

One of the most powerful aspects of the new MS Office 2007 is how customizable it is for users, and how users can make Office work really well based on their own usage patterns. Next week we'll see more about how to take advantage of the many new enhancements in MS Office 2007.

As always, suggestions are welcomed and Computing Tips are appreciated. Send them to Pat Fellows.